A Handful
by raptorbox
Summary: [daycare au/kidfic] Kakashi and Iruka have their hands full-sometimes literally-with a certain trio of high energy pre-schoolers. Turns out you can teach some life lessons while also bribing them to not pummel each other.


a/n: hi, i just started reading naruto and the first fic i wrote was fluffy kidfic. hope y'all enjoy! i'm crossposting this from ao3/tumblr

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It isn't a normal day at the daycare if Naruto and Sasuke don't get into a fight with Sakura in the middle throwing punches in an effort to keep the peace.

Kakashi heard that they used to be able to play together and be nice to each other, but that all changed when Sasuke called Naruto an idiot one time and Naruto took it very personally. He wasn't aware pre-schoolers could hold grudges but here he was, watching Iruka physically separate the boys by plucking Naruto off the ground.

Sakura's the easiest to deal with so Kakashi calmly led her a little ways away. Once told to do something she does it no matter how much she hates it. The most difficult thing for her to do is not try to help her friends; she hasn't learned that decking Naruto in the face isn't the best way to do that.

But Kakashi did ask her to stop and she did immediately. He squats down to her eye level.

"You're being very good, Sakura," Kakashi compliments, giving her a thumbs-up, "please continue to set a good example for those boys."

Sakura's little balled fists unfold and after a moment of processing she clasps them clumsily behind her. "Yessir!"

He can tell Sakura is struggling to hold herself back from rushing back into the fray. Usually he would encourage her commend her for her initiative but in this case it was best to reward her for her restraint. He pats her head.

"Atta girl," he says and stands back up. He can trust Sakura to stay out of the way now while he helps Iruka deal with the two problem children.

Or...well, mostly the one problem child and the one reactive child.

Iruka has his arms full of a wiggling, yelling Naruto with a shouting Sasuke practically standing on his feet to get at a more effective height for punching, be it Naruto's butt or Iruka's stomach.

"Sasuke-! Keep your hands to yourself! And-Naruto, please-ugh, STOP!"

Kakashi glances back at Sakura; she's now just a few steps closer to the action and has her pink dress clutched tight in her little hands. At least she's continuing to keep an acceptable distance away.

"Iruka, having trouble?" Kakashi drawls, amused at his co-worker's struggling. Iruka glares until Naruto headbutts him at the same time Sasuke seems to get a good hit in his gut. He stumbles forward, straining to not double over to prevent Sasuke from getting the momentum in his favor.

"Put me down!" Naruto, ungrateful, yells in Iruka's ear. "I can take 'im!"

"Shut up, Naruto! I'll kill you!" Sasuke yells back, reaching up and making grabbing motions towards Naruto's clothing. Iruka grunts as he hoists Naruto up higher, fully accepting the risk of Naruto pulling out his hair.

It's all too easy for Kakashi to get behind Sasuke and scoop him up off Iruka's poor feet. He has to untangle Sasuke's fist from Iruka's shirt but even Sasuke's unhinged grip isn't a match for Kakashi's advantage of being an adult man. He sighs but at least Sasuke doesn't put up a fight against him.

Naruto settles down once he realizes Sasuke isn't there anymore. Iruka glares at Kakashi. "Took you long enough," he grumbles.

Naruto blows a raspberry at Sasuke. Sasuke huffs and flips the bird; Kakashi pushes his arm back down.

"Who taught you that?" he asks. Sasuke grunts. Kakashi shrugs. It's honestly a blessing that Sasuke's rudeness can at least be nonverbal sometimes. He gets tired enough of Naruto learning he can say "darn" as an oh-so-terrible curse word that he can repeat to his heart's content.

Iruka sighs. "Okay, let's...jeez, kids. Can't you two play nice?"

Naruto pushes on Iruka's face with less intensity and violent intent as before. "It's his fault!"

Kakashi is thankful for Sasuke's limp, pouty disposition. "Oh? I thought I saw you throw the first punch," he says.

Naruto yells. He doesn't say anything, sometimes he just needs to let out his energy and emotions by yelling which is exactly what he's doing right in Iruka's ear. Kakashi needs to get them all earplugs.

"Um...I'm the one who told him he couldn't beat up Sasuke..."

Everyone turns to look at Sakura, her hands still full of her dress. Her cheeks are red and there are tears in her eyes.

She sniffles. "I didn't think he'd try! I just...he was being mean to Sasuke! And-and Sasuke is really strong!"

Kakashi hums. He sets Sasuke down next to Sakura since his silence has earned him the reward of solid ground. Sasuke hasn't stopped pouting and Sakura is still working very hard to keep her hands to herself just as she was told.

"Well that complicates things, doesn't it?"

Iruka isn't impressed. "Does it really?"

Kakashi plucks Naruto out of Iruka's arms-Naruto yelps, but he knows better than to assault Kakashi's eardrums-and sets him down with the other two. At the moment all three of them have their punching hands to themselves; Sasuke's fists are at his sides since he doesn't have pockets today and Naruto tries a couple of times before he can coordinate his arms to cross over his chest.

They're a unique bunch.

Iruka now stands at Kakashi's side, looking down at the trio of troublemakers. He nudges Kakashi and lowers his voice. "What do you want to do? Time-out doesn't do anything for them."

Kakashi scratches his head. "I have an idea that might not work, but it'll at least be cute."

He crouches down to the kids' eye level. Once they all look at him he starts to gently take their little hands in his own. It's easy enough to get Naruto to hold Sakura's hand, he struggles a little to have Sasuke participate at all, and he finally ends up with all of them holding hands with each other.

"If you three can spend the rest of recess and quiet time like this then I'll get each of you a treat from the vending machine."

"Will you really?!" Naruto shouts, jumping up and down without letting go of Sakura and Sasuke's hands. "Can I have ramen?!"

Kakashi makes a big show of "thinking about it" while Naruto begs over and over. He waits until he's sure that Naruto has completely forgotten about his grudge against Sasuke.

"Hmm...only if you're extra good," he promises. He then holds out his pinky. "I pinky promise!"

Naruto starts to let go of the hand holding Sasuke's but Sasuke is quick to grab it tight. "Stupid!" he scolds, "He said we don't get anything if we stop holding hands!"

Iruka snorts as Naruto suddenly looks at Sasuke with intense admiration. Kakashi chuckles and ruffles the boys' hair.

"Good teamwork you two," he praises, "keep it up."

He gets up and pats Sakura's head. Sakura smiles up at him and swings her arms, taking Naruto and Sasuke's with her.

Kakashi nudges Iruka. "Let's see how long this lasts."

Iruka smiles and crosses his arms. "You promised Naruto you'd get him ramen. They'll be well-behaved until tomorrow."

It doesn't take long for the kids to start talking about what they want from the almighty vending machine. Naruto's stuck on ramen, of course, even though Sasuke keeps insisting that the vending machine doesn't have ramen. Sakura seems to have memorized everything that's in the machine but also seems to find it more fun to let the boys speculate.

Kakashi and Iruka are later surprised that the trio insisted on holding hands during nap time; they asked to have their mats pushed together and even agreed to let Naruto be in the middle.

"Why can't they be like that all the time," Iruka whispers.

"We just need to bribe them apparently," Kakashi says, "but they seem to actually like each other."

Iruka sighs with a smile. "They do."


End file.
